Today, LiL is ecstatic to be teaming up with Canadian pop-rock band, The Steadies, to give our readers an exclusive behind the scenes look at their new EP ‘TRIKETRA: Mind’! Check it out below.
We’re The Steadies, a high-energy pop, reggae, and rock band based in Saskatoon, SK. We’re excited to share our latest EP with everyone; ‘TRIKETRA: Mind’!
The first part of a series of 3 EPs; ‘TRIKETRA: Mind’ is a creative project we worked on over the course of the pandemic. The EP is part of a larger concept, ‘Triketra’; in which we focussed on the triplicity of life; or how things in life are often in threes. In this EP, we chose to explore the themes of the Mind: from taking care of your mental health in difficult times, embracing positive mental thoughts, to mentally coping with loss.
The members of the band are based out of 3 different cities; Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Victoria, and over the course of the pandemic we had to adapt to a new way of writing, recording, and mixing as a band. As a result, we found that although the process could sometimes feel longer than having a few weeks together to work on new music, the distanced approach allowed for far more depth through the planning process and allowed us to really explore the thematic content of this release more than usual.
We’re super proud of how everything has turned out with this EP, and we’re so excited to explore it with you here!
528:
Starting off the EP, “528” is often known as the ‘frequency of love’, and we wanted the track to bring the kind of good vibes that you can experience while feeling or giving love. This track is definitely our tribute to Toots and the Maytals, and we chose to go for an old school Reggae kind of feel to match the feel-good vibes of the lyrics. The lyrics for this one aim to capture the feeling of being in love, and the magic of that special frequency people can find themselves on.
Can’t Stop Dancin’:
This one is definitely a fun one to play for us! “Can’t Stop Dancin’” began as it often does as a demo from lead singer and songwriter Earl Pereira, but through the creative process, we took full advantage of the benefits of non-traditional recording, and wanted to make a poppy anthem for the EP. While we would usually record parts as we would play them live, this tune ended up having guitar parts chopped up, tons of fun vocal samples added, and all sorts of fun production tricks to really make this one shine. When adapting this one back to being a live performance post-pandemic, it was a super awesome experience for us as a band to re-learn the song in its new arrangement to bring these huge sounds to the stage again!
Comin’ Around (feat. Yellowsky):
This collab came about very organically. Our frontman Pereira was in his studio in Saskatoon and invited local indigenous reggae artist Yellowsky over to chat about producing his new album. Pereira then started playing a new Steadies track and Yellowsky immediately took to it and began to freestyle overtop in his Damian Marley-esque chanting style. The song’s themes of dealing with mental health and depression really resonated with Roberto aka Yellowsky, as these were issues he had dealt with in the past. Musically the track had a strong modern reggae-rock groove that meshed perfectly with both artists as well. The two then hit the record button and this new verse became the feature on ‘Comin’ Around’!
Light Me Up (feat. SNJÜ):
Another powerful collab on the EP featuring Sanjay Seran aka SNJÜ of Vancouver based electro-world beat group Delhi2Dublin, this track was more planned out. Pereira and Seran are old friends with both bands having toured together pre-COVID, and over the years the two frontmen had discussed working together on a song. By Summer 2020, Pereira had sent a demo of the song which Seran instantly got excited about. Soon after the two began writing together over facetime but the recording process was a slow one due to the challenges of COVID restrictions. But by Summer of 2021, “Light Me Up” was recorded and ready for a Fall release. The Steadies and Seran even got together to shoot a music video which really brought the song’s themes of bringing out the light within others to life.
Summer Never Says Goodbye:
This surfy rock n roll tune is one where the band’s writing and musicality really get showcased. The song’s theme of dealing with losing loved ones close to you stemmed from our frontman Earl Pereira losing his father Efren Sr. in 2020. After already having lost his best friend and co-founder of the band Justin Lee in 2017, Pereira was able to intertwine an underlying positive tone with lyrics “cause no one, is ever really gone.. they’re always with you”. Musically the band’s special live energy shines through with emotional performances from guitarist Chris Valleau’s soaring solo, drummer Kurtis Schultz’s bombastic hits, to Pereira’s heartfelt yet powerful vocal delivery.
We hope you guys enjoyed checking out our EP! “TRIKETRA: Mind” has been a really fun release to have worked on and we’re happy we finally get to share it everyone. Make sure to follow us on social media platforms to see when we’re playing a show near you, and for the next parts of this creative project!
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